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History · Clinton

30% of Clinton’s homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1951 on and old-book passages.

0on the National Register
30%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory

What stands out about Clinton’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Clinton are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages3 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Clinton, and 1 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Clinton’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Clinton’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Three other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Cosgrove
1887–1889
Paskin
1889–1917
Poskin
1917–1993
18801950today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Poskin
Gone or out of use
Bethany ChurchchurchClinton Heights SchoolschoolCoolidge SchoolschoolCorey SchoolschoolEbenezer ChurchchurchGarfield SchoolschoolHay River Valley SchoolschoolPine Grove SchoolschoolPoskin ChurchchurchRevere Schoolschool
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Clinton
EbenezerPoskin LutheranSaint Matthew Lutheran

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

The story so far

Clinton, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Clinton yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Clinton is a town in Barron County, in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The population was 870 at the 2020 census, down from 879 at the 2010 census. The unincorporated community of Poskin is located in Clinton, along U.S. Route 8.

Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 879 in 2010, 870 in 2020.

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Clinton in 1922

Passages that mention Clinton, cut from the printed page as they were published.

tified with local affairs and was soon numbered among the prominent citi¬ zens, taking an active part in all progressive enterprises. Among other things he went about and got signers to the petition to have the township of Arland set off from Clinton and Prairie Farm. He helped to organize the firs…
History of Barron County Wisconsin1922 · page 901Read the page →
Read the text

tified with local affairs and was soon numbered among the prominent citi¬ zens, taking an active part in all progressive enterprises. Among other things he went about and got signers to the petition to have the township of Arland set off from Clinton and Prairie Farm. He helped to organize the first school in Prairie Farm Township and was clerk of the board for 23 years. He also served eight years as supervisor on the Prairie Farm town board, and was the first chairman of the Arland town board and served eight years.

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Clinton Township occupies Township 34, Range 13. It was created March 22, 1876, and then embraced the north half of Township 33, Range 13, and all of Township 34, Range 13. The first town meeting was ordered held in the schoolhouse of District 7, in Township 33, Range 13. O. Bayler was the first ch…
History of Barron County Wisconsin1922 · page 1053Read the page →
Read the text

Clinton Township occupies Township 34, Range 13. It was created March 22, 1876, and then embraced the north half of Township 33, Range 13, and all of Township 34, Range 13. The first town meeting was ordered held in the schoolhouse of District 7, in Township 33, Range 13. O. Bayler was the first chair¬ man; E. H. Johnson and J. D. Rohdes, supervisors; and J. B. Thurston, clerk.

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.

Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

Timeline

Clinton, 1887 to 1993

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1887Post officeThe Cosgrove post office opens
  3. 1889Post officeThe Cosgrove post office closes
  4. 1889Post officeThe Paskin post office opens
  5. 20th century
  6. 1917Post officeThe Paskin post office closes
  7. 1917Post officeThe Poskin post office opens
  8. 1951On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  9. 1993Post officeThe Poskin post office closes
By decade

Clinton, decade by decade

Today1 recent
WIMap-doton-Clinton2004WIMap-doton-Clinton
On the map

Clinton on the map, 1951 to 1978

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Clinton. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Clinton on the 1951 USGS mapClinton on the 1978 USGS map1951Barron sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Clinton.

Famous people

Famous people close to Clinton

Nobody well known was born in Clinton itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Dick LaneAmerican actor and television announcer · b. 1899
Henry EllensonAmerican basketball player · b. 1997
J
John PetersonOlympic wrestler · b. 1948
John G. Blystone1892–1938; American film director · b. 1892
D
David HansonAmerican ice hockey player · b. 1954
Harold OlsenAmerican basketball player and coach · b. 1895
Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

AlmenaIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townArlandIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townBarronIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townAlmenaIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townCumberlandIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Clinton’s history

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (1), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.